


Found Out

by honeyedcalcite



Series: Do Good [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Choking, Magical manipulation, Not really graphic its just a little, Other, Post-The Eleventh Hour, Pre-The Suffering Game, midnight snacks gone real bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 09:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10919232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyedcalcite/pseuds/honeyedcalcite
Summary: Lucas Miller decides to return to the bureau, much to someones displeasure.





	Found Out

**Author's Note:**

> Lucas tries to get a midnight snack and it gets bad

It didn’t even take two weeks for Lucas to use the ring. After the visit from Lucretia he  _ needed  _ that contact again. The contact of people he cared about. Even if most, probably all of the members of the Bureau hated him. 

 

The ring worked exactly like she said it would. When he escaped work one day he just grabbed what he could carry and left. It took about half a day on foot to reach a suitable clearing. Lucas brought his left hand to his face, eyeing the ring one last time. The silver glinted in the light of the setting sun. He closed his eyes and swallowed the pit in his throat, steadying his hand in front of him, and pressed on the rune. 

 

It hardly flashed before it glowed a light blue in response. Lucas knew it would take time for the sphere to get there. But he couldn't stop his foot from bouncing impatiently. It only took five minutes for him to see it streaking across the sky, another three for it to gracefully settle in front of him. Even before the door popped open Lucas knew this one was somehow different. First off there was only one seat, making the sphere much smaller than usual. There was an actual dashboard, which looked like it had control buttons on it. It must be Lucretia’s personal sphere. 

 

Lucas stepped in, face blanching when he heard the door snap shut. Of course he wanted to do this, but it was still a little unnerving. He sat, wiping his hands on his pants. They still shook as he pressed his thumb into the rune again, shifting from a blue to white before shutting off. 

 

It wasn't like he hadn't ever been in one of these before, but this was different. This wasn't just another day at work for him anymore. This was moving on. 

 

Moving on from the lab, the settlement, all those months spent alone. Not really living but not dead either. He closed his eyes, letting the ball take him to the only place he had now. The only person he had left. 

 

\-----

 

Lucas blinked sleep from his eyes just in time to see the moon begin to open up. His brain almost too muddled to realize that this was a different hangar than the orbs usually came to. The inside was significantly cleaner than the other. It also wasn’t peppered with guards. The only person in the hangar was Lucretia, standing nervously in her blue robes. Lucas sat up and grabbed his bag off the floor. Watching the gap of sky close impatiently as the orb drew closer. 

 

The door couldn’t open fast enough for either of them. Both Lucas and Lucretia nearly tripping into an embrace as soon as he stumbled out. He laughed nervously into her shoulder, relief and anxiety bubbling up in him. Thankfully she spoke first. 

 

“I’m glad you decided to come back” A laugh shook through Lucas, awkward but still happy. He rubbed the heel of his palm into his eye, pretending like he wasn’t about to cry. “I’m glad that you’ll have me.”

\-----

 

Lucretia had showed him to his room. Close to her own, just down the hall in case he needed something. And to minimize the risk of him being caught. She’d informed him that she hadn’t actually told the rest of the bureau. Killian would likely kill him, so would at least ⅔ of the reclaimers. Not a lot of the others really knew he was supposed to be dead, but they still hated him regardless. So he found it wise to keep to his room until late at night. Only coming out to eat or collect ichor samples from the voidfish. Having finally gotten permission from Lucretia to do at least that. 

 

It worked out well, for a while. His sleeping schedule being almost the opposite of everyone else’s. Sleep all day, wake up, science, sneak out to the mess hall, science, sleep, repeat. He lived like that for a little less than a month. To some it might have been a downgrade from having a whole settlement of people around. But the clean lines in the moon base felt better than him than everything being rigid and unpredictable. They helped him focus on his work instead of on splintering wooden walls. Lucretia helped too, someone professional and familiar to ground him. Instead of floating by unmemorable faces and names. It was nice like this. 

 

Lucas was on his ‘sneak into the mess hall’ phase of his day, well night, when his routine was broken. Leaning against the counter at about 2 in the morning. Only in his binder and pajama pants, eating a sandwich in the dark. He couldn’t see even on the best of nights, but he still froze when he heard the door open. Flinching when it shut. He stared into the pitch black, praying that whoever had just opened the door that they didn’t have some sort of dark vision. 

 

The glowing gold eyes told him he could only be so lucky. 

 

Fight or flight kicked in when quick footsteps rushed toward him. But there was nowhere to go, and by the time Lucas’ panic riddled brain started to actually work there was already a bracer at his throat. The force of the impact sent him bending painfully back over the countertop. Lucas let out a choked gasp, clawing at the arm when he couldn’t get any more air in. Long hair tickled his ear, and breath fanned against his cheeks as he could only assume they got closer. Their eyes faintly illuminated their face. He could see sharp cheekbones, and a nasty snarl. A crackle pierced the air, a stone of farspeech? The lilt in their voice making his face blanche, there was a good chance he wouldn’t be leaving alive. 

 

“Mags, wake up Grandpa Piss, you’re gonna wanna see somethin in the mess!” The bracer against his throat eased up, allowing him to suck in a breath. Only to be replaced with a dull point. “Make one move Miller and I will blast you so hard you’ll look worse than Phandelin.” Taako muttered a spell under his breath, illuminating them so they could see easier. Or perhaps so Lucas could see how fresh and intimidating he looked. 

 

Luckily though, it gave Lucas an idea of how often Taako looked to the door. Allowing him to flick the switch on his own stone. He bounced his leg, trying to look natural as he murmured ‘Looks like this is a  _ mess _ ’. Taako’s arm slammed back into his neck, face just inches away from his own again. “What was that Miller?” He whimpered, knees shaking as the line stayed silent. Taako reached down to his chest and snapped the rope from his neck. Throwing the stone to the ground. And audible crack punctuated by the door slamming open. Bright light turned on around him, momentarily blinding him. But he could tell, Magnus rushed in. Before he could register just how much shit he was in, Taako was pulled off of him. A breath of relief halted by Magnus pulling him up by the back of his neck. He looked even more pissed than Taako. He was balancing on his toes, Magnus’ grip probably bruising. 

 

“How the fuck did you get up here Lucas!? What’s even here for you!” Lucas’ gaze flicked from Magnus to the door. There was a very slim chance Lucretia was coming to his rescue. Even if she was would she be able to get there fast enough to not be met with his corpse? Probably not. So, Lucas let himself drop. 

 

He turned to dead weight in Magnus’ hand. Not even Magnus ‘The Hammer’ Burnsides could take 130 some pounds in one hand if he wasn’t expecting it. Lucas landed on his knees with a crack, scrambling across the floor. It took a second for him to get on his feet again, but he was getting close to the door. He was almost out before a wave of warmth washed over him, clearly magic. The single word “HALT!” pierced the air, forcing him to stop in his tracks. There was no way he had a chance against the three renowned reclaimers. He was going to die, in a fucking cafeteria, somewhere he was SUPPOSED to be. 

 

A second word, quieter this time, smug. “Approach!” Lucas turned on his heel, and began walking to the trio. Merle was holding his X-Treme Teen Bible open, a smirk on his face. Magnus held railsplitter firmly, and Taako held his Umbra Staff high toward Lucas. He stopped just a few feet away from Merle. His hands curled into fists, eyes clenched shut. Whatever they were gonna do to him he didn’t wanna see it coming. Didn’t want to know that it was his own fault. Before any of them could do anything another voice boomed through the mess hall. 

 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Lucas’ eyes snapped open, the magic from Command on it’s last legs. Allowing him to at least turn and face them. Lucretia stood at the door in her work robes, scowling at the three men who were about a turn away from dicing Lucas. Taako swung an arm around his neck, Umbra Staff jabbing under his chin. “Lucy darling you got rats~” The tone in his voice was playful and threatening. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “All of you, in my office now. And  _ alive _ . “

  
  


\-----

 

Lucretia briefed them on how and why Lucas was there, and forced them to explain exactly why they nearly killed him. All in all ‘he nearly got us killed’ was the unanimous answer. She sighed, holding her hand out and materializing another stone for Lucas. “Next time you find a stranger on the base, call me before you obliterate them. I know exactly when and why anyone gets up here. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s a tad difficult to sneak in.” She dropped the stone in his hand and waved it to dismiss them. Merle was leaving before she even put it back on the desk, mumbling something about his ‘beauty rest’. Taako and Magnus left quickly too, Lucas started to stand before Lucretia motioned for him to stay. 

  
“I can’t risk this happening again, if someone else catches you I might not be able to get there in time.” Lucas snorted. Lucretia scowled at him, shutting him up. “So I’m going to formally announce your presence, so nobody conveniently ‘forgets’ I may need to give you a bracer. Just as a precaution. You will get all the benefits you had before the… incident, and you’ll be able to go planetside without having to use my personal transport. But you will have to contribute to this organization with your research. The ring just won’t be enough anymore.” Lucas sat back in his chair. There really was nothing for him planetside, no reason for him to leave the Bureau. The only reason he had to say no was bracer stink but that was manageable. He nodded. “I think it’ll be nice to finally be an actual part of the Bureau, besides-” Lucas rubbed at the forming bruises on his neck. “If I already got a beating like that from just those three, Killian’s not even gonna have to touch me to snap my neck.” They chuckled, it would be nice to have something to work for again. It  _ will  _ be nice. 

**Author's Note:**

> You have to be lying to urself to try and convince yourself that the sheer amount of neck touching in this fic has nothing to do with me being a nasty trash boy


End file.
